Newbie - My Story

Hi Shaz, welome to this site. I hope you will get lots of advice and support from us here. You certainly have joined us on the roller coaster ride called breast cancer. Like you, I have opted for a doube mastectomy, though my nipples were taken. I had one cancer, 21 mm and a grade 3 discovered, and , like you, it was following a normal mammogram only 3 months before. I was checking up on an old lump, that for some reason I was suddenly concerned about. Fortunately my GP sent me for an ultrasound and repeat mammogram. The ultrasound confirmed that the old lump was nothing more than some fibrous glandular tissue, however a tiny cyst like lesion underneath was found. Another mammogram, was still normal, but as a precaution they did a fine needle biopsy. This 4mm lesion showed invasive ductal cancer. My lumpectomy became a mastectomy 3 weeks later, after pathology revealed a much larger and aggressive cancer, than what they were expecting. I had firstly a clear sentinel node biopsy, but my surgeon wanted to check beyond this, so I had 10 more removed at the time of mastectomy. None were involved. Following chemo, I went back to theatre and had the second mastectomy, as I had decided, that I would struggle to believe a normal mammogram in the future. It was one thing I could control, and now I have 2 new perky boobs, and have no regrets at all about my decision to have a double mastectomy. I am ER+ and PR+ and Her2 -, so will be taking an Aromatose inhibitor for many years. Good luck with all your treatments. Love Chris xx